CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati baseball team will be back in Marge Schott Stadium this weekend for three games of American Athletic Conference action against No. 12 University of Houston. The games will be played on Friday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 26 at 4 p.m. and Sunday, April 27 at noon.

SETTING THE SCENE

Junior pitcher Grant Walker earned a couple accolades this week, being named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week by College Sports Madness and earning a spot on the American honor roll for his complete-game shutout performance over crosstown rival Xavier on Tuesday, April 15. Walker pitched all nine innings allowing just six hits and collecting five strikeouts. The outing came just six days after he pitched his first-career complete game to beat Miami (Ohio) in the championship game of the Joe Nuxhall Classic to earn the tournament's MVP honors.

The Bearcats will host Houston after having the week off to focus on finals.

SCOUTING HOUSTON

Houston enters the weekend series with a 29-11 overall record and a 6-6 mark in American Athletic Conference play.

Houston is currently ranked No. 12 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll, No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches' poll, No. 14 in the Baseball America poll and No. 6 in the RPI rankings.

UH did not start the season ranked, but began receiving votes after the first week of play and jumped into the polls the week of March 17. The Cougars have been ranked as high as eighth in the Baseball America poll and 10th in the USA Today Coaches' poll.

Houston has picked up three wins over ranked opponents, including a 3-0 win over No. 11 Rice (2/19/14), a 9-0 walloping of No. 26 Texas Tech (2/28/14) and a huge 4-3 win over No. 9 UCLA in Los Angeles (3/8/14).

UH leads the nation with a team ERA of 1.88. They are the only team to post a sub-2.00 ERA at this point in the season.